A/N: Everything recognisable belongs to JKR.

Hermione did not have much time to work on any more adjustments for the memory potion. The beginning of NEWTS finally arrived for the seventh years, and it was undeniably felt in Gryffindor Tower. The seventh years seemed to have disappeared from all social activities, taking up residence in the library or in dark corners of the common room and refusing to engage in anything unless it involved revising. Hermione came down one morning to find Remus and Peter asleep over some of their textbooks and was kind enough to gently prod them awake. Peter looked embarrassed as he wiped drool from his chin and Remus looked very confused for a few moments.

"You have an hour until breakfast," she said. "Just be thankful it was me down here first." There had been a spate of pranks recently involving indelible ink that left purple-grey marks on the victim's skin for days after the ink had been vanished. A poor fifth year still had the remains of a rude word on their cheek.

Remus sighed in relief.

And so it began - the culmination of Hermione Granger's Hogwarts career. Her days began with breakfast and then she would head to the library to revise, sometimes joined by Severus until they had to reconvene in the Great Hall where they would either be taking written or practical exams.

The first day's exams consisted of Defense Against the Dark Arts. All the seventh years were queued alphabetically, so Hermione spent her morning with Lily, and Remus two behind her. Peter had James to keep him company, but was irritating him by continually going over spells and wand movements, causing James to threaten to hex the smaller boy. Severus was much further behind.

As she was about to go in, he caught her eye and gave her a firm nod. She winked at him in return which caused a corner of his mouth to curl up.

She found the practical tests to be slightly challenging (after all, when you're not facing a life threatening situation, it's a bit difficult to get yourself into the mindset to cast the spell), though she was pleased when she was asked to demonstrate how she would defend herself against an inferi. Her mind jumped to several things - they hated light and warmth. Lumos was too basic, as was incendio.

Hermione took a deep breath and thought of the first time Severus kissed her and with a wave of her arm conjured up the strongest patronus she had ever seen erupt from her wand.

Her otter danced around the examiners, rolling and swimming about as they marked their sheets until it dissipated. "That's what I would use if it was on its own," Hermione explained, drawing their attention to her once more. "And if that didn't work, or there were many -" she stepped into the magical ring in the centre of the room the examiners had provided to contain the student's spells and waved her wand high in the air. The edge of the ring burst into flames that grew higher and higher until she could no longer see the examiners. After a moment, she extinguished them.

"Thank you, Miss Granger," they all nodded and smiled at her as she took her leave.

Severus found her in the library later. "How did you do?" he asked.

"Well, I think. You?"

"Same."

Their days passed much in the same way and the last day of NEWTS for them finally arrived - a written Herbology exam.

She was seated somewhere far ahead of Severus, and again, couldn't resist turning in her seat to give him a smile before their attention was called to the front of the room.

When they were given the signal to begin, Hermione drove straight into her answers, filling the page without a second thought, writing down everything that came to mind on the subjects. Her hand began to cramp about halfway through, suffering after several days of such intense writing, but she kept reminding herself that she was almost there - she had almost completed her NEWTS - an opportunity she had been denied in her final year. She gave herself a small shake, pushing the events of her year on the run to the back of her mind. If she followed those memories, there was little chance she would finish the exam.

The hours passed quickly, and it felt as though she had only really started to get into the subjects when the exam was called. The scrolls were collected by the examiners and the Great Hall broke out into a cacophony of noise as the students rose from their seats and filed out towards the sunshine. Hermione found Severus waiting for her at the door, nose buried in his exam booklet. She was waiting to do the same.

He held his hand out silently toward her as she reached him, eyes still raking over the parchment and she led them off in the direction of the entrance hall and the outdoors. It felt as though the weather were celebrating their finish as well - the day was glorious, crowned with a light breeze.

"How soon do you expect we'll get the results?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Not until the end of summer." he replied, his head still buried in the exam paper. "How extensive was your answer on the harvesting of Mandrakes?"

"I was able to fit in soil rotation and the effect on temperaments, and then the moon cycles on the number of roots produced."

He nodded. "What about the benefits and drawbacks of muffler materials? You know that yeti hair is the best."

Hermione's heart stopped. She didn't even think to research that or include it in her essay! Her mouth opened, working silently to word her horror.

And then it hit her - nothing had ever been said about that - and there was no proof - as long as sound was blocked. She turned to find his eyes creased up in silent laugher as he tucked away the exam paper in his rucksack.

"Your face!" he wheezed. "I don't think I've ever seen you look so distressed!"

She elbowed him. "You're going to feel distressed if you do that again."

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to him, kissing the top of her head. "I'm sorry - I'm sure you've done brilliantly."

He turned his head toward the sky, observing the good weather and the large number of students scattered on the grounds around them. Even the giant squid had risen to the top of the lake to enjoy the sunshine and its tentacles were lapping playfully at some of the students who were soaking their feet in the water.

"Would you like to go flying?" he asked. He had coaxed her onto the broom several times now, and Hermione found that she quite enjoyed flying when she was with Severus. The feel of his arms around her was comforting when she was in the air, and she quite liked sitting behind him as well, though she was pretty sure that some of the moves that he pulled were simply to ensure her arms were as tightly around his torso as possible.

"I'll go with you," she agreed.

She let him be in control this time around as they were not the only ones with this idea, and Hermione was still a nervous flyer when there were too many other people around. Though he flew a bit faster than she would have preferred, it was nice to feel the breeze in her hair and the sun on her back - her exam worries left far below.

Hermione's cheeks were pink from the sun when they landed, and Severus' forehead and nose bore the signs of sunburn as well.

"Come on," he said. "As lovely as your cheeks look, I have some sunburn salve ready."

They began to make their way back to the castle when they spotted Dumbledore walking up from Hogsmeade and through the castle gates to Hagrid's hut. Severus slowed his walk.

"Have you noticed that he keeps watching us?" he asked, his voice was almost a whisper.

Hermione shook her head. "No. Does he?"

"Well, you usually have your nose in a book at meals, so you wouldn't, but I've caught him once. And sometimes when we're walking through the corridors in the evening, it feels as though he's just walked through or he's right behind us."

"I can't say I've noticed it." Hermione's heartbeat quickened. While Dumbledore may not have said anything to her, she trusted Severus and his observations and had no doubt that the headmaster had taken an interest since her confession about Severus.

"Slughorn had to tell the Headmaster about my supplying ingredients for the school. He did it as an example of my integrity so I could be allowed to go to St. Mungo's."

"Oh, no - are you in trouble?"

He shook his head. "Dumbledore was surprisingly calm about it, apparently. I'm to show Professor Sprout where it is so that she can take it over when I'm gone." Hermione nodded.

"Not long now," she said, kicking the gravel from her shoes as they made their way into the entrance hall.

Severus let out a sigh that was filled with so much relief that she was surprised that he hadn't taken some sort of potion to induce euphoria. "No more Hogwarts. No more Potter or Black. I got permission from Professor Slughorn to leave the school next week. I'm scheduled to go look at premises in Diagon Alley," he explained, nudging her with his elbow. "Would you like to come with me?"

"Me?" Hermione was a bit shocked.

"Seeing as you're going to be working there." He smirked at her.

They had reached his workroom now and Hermione felt like she was home. She couldn't believe they would be leaving this space so soon. Severus crossed to the shelves he had assembled to carry his stock and pulled a jar from it. He motioned for her to sit and began applying it to her face, his fingers gentle and the salve cool against her skin. Within moments, she could no longer feel the heat radiating from the burn.

"You haven't talked about your post-Hogwarts plans, Jean." He handed the salve to her and she began applying it to him. She applied it thickly to his forehead, and within moments his skin had absorbed the greenish gel and the red was gone.

"No, I haven't."

"What are you going to do? Continue living here at the castle?"

"No," she answered, trailing off. "I think I may get a small flat in Hogsmeade. I've seen a few ads for places in the Daily Prophet and I think I'll make a few inquiries next week. I could take a muggle flat, but it's really much easier brewing potions if you don't have to hide it, right? And we are so close to perfecting this, Severus, I can really feel it." She applied the last bit of salve to the tips of his ears and smiled as the pink tinge disappeared. "There, done."

"But, aren't you going to apply for jobs? Surely you need to work to survive," he said pointedly, reshelving the jar.

"I have some money saved. I'll be fine for a while," she explained. In truth, she did not have much and did not know what she would do. She hadn't planned on staying this long - maybe she would have to turn to Severus and work for him for a while like he planned. Did he have his own shop before he became a professor? She cursed herself for not looking more into his past before coming here.

They settled onto the cushion and it wasn't long before Severus' soft touches became persistent. He warded the door and fell into one another's arms and all worries about the future were wiped from her mind - if only for a little while.

It was a novelty being a seventh year now - they no longer had classes and simply had to wait for the end of term to arrive and the leaving feast before they were free. There were a few students who did leave now that they no longer had classes to attend and job offers waiting for them. The Heads of Houses were meant to meet with their students to give them an idea of how they progressed over the year and her meeting with McGonagall had gone smoothly.

"You've done very well, Miss Granger, and I can only expect your NEWTs results will reflect that. As for your independent project, the Headmaster has been very pleased with that as well. It has been an absolute pleasure teaching you and I regret that I have not had you from a first year."

Hermione smiled, pleased at the older woman's comments. She hoped when she showed up at Hogwarts in a few years time that McGonagall would get some satisfaction from it.

They ended the meeting with McGonagall pushing a shortbread biscuit at her and Hermione nibbled on it happily, making her way to Severus' lab. When she entered, he was seated on his sofa reading an incredibly moldy looking book that appeared to be falling to pieces.

"What are you reading?" she asked, seating herself next to him and peering at the pages. Thankfully the book with surreal illustrations was gone.

"A text on obscure poisons - you said something that made me think of it, so I asked my mum to send it a while ago. I just haven't had a chance to read it with NEWTs. Look," he leaned the book toward her so she could see it clearly and pulled a black velvet ribbon aside to show her the text.

"It's a list of poisons from creatures that aren't thought to exist anymore, or they're extremely rare. Look at the maledictus - if it gets the venom in, hardly anything will seal it, and it takes ages to heal -"

Could Nagini have been a maledictus? She pulled the text toward her and Severus winced at her firm handling of the book. She muttered a quick apology before scouring the page. If she was - how would they even know? Was there a register? Who would she have been before the transformation? Would there even be a record for something like that?

"You've gone quiet. Does that sound familiar?" he asked.

"I don't know, but it certainly fits." She scrutinized the gory illustrations, showing various people trying to stem the bleeding but blood continuing to pour forth despite their efforts. The illustrator certainly was enthusiastic.

"The difficult thing about this is that it would be near impossible to test it. They're rare for a reason. I doubt even Borgin and Burkes would have access to something like this," he tapped the illustration.

"I understand. It's something to keep in mind, though."

He nodded and pulled the book back toward him, reading through the text once more.

Hermione's eyes wandered with her thoughts until they settled on a third cauldron that had appeared in his lab with something brewing away softly in it.

"A bit of last minute takings?" she asked.

"No. I'm doing some work with the amortentia alteration on my own."

She stood up to examine it, but it was as familiar as ever - just the base of the potion. He hadn't made any adjustments to it yet.

"What are you doing to it?" What other possible alteration would he want to make? They had already agreed on the best substitutions.

"Just some experimenting." He reaffirmed. She chewed the inside of her lip in thought. She resumed her seat next to him and settled into him, watching him turn the pages. There were so many things that she had never even heard of - and lots of things that she was fairly certain had never existed.

He turned a page and it opened onto a mass illustration of a man speaking before a crowd. The man appeared to be able to see inside the minds of everyone attending. He was convincing them to poison themselves. The thought made her shudder and reminded her of something -

"I've been doing a bit of work with occlumency," she said. She had tried to learn it before, but with this war, especially with Severus taking the path that he was, there was no reason not to now, especially as there would be so little to do over the next few weeks.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I want to know that I have something to protect against the Imperius Curse. I know that's supposed to help. And to avoid things like that happening," she gestured to the text.

He ran his finger over his lips in thought. "Do you have any reason to think someone may want to cast that on you?"

"Well, no, not really, but you never know. And it's a useful skill to have. It helps with magical outbursts."

He nodded. "I've dabbled in it a bit myself, but it's difficult to do on one's own."

"Should we try together?" she pushed. If Severus Snape was one of the best occlumens of their time, then he would surely be one of the best teachers -

"I think I'd rather just enjoy my time with you, to be honest."

She was a bit surprised by his answer, assuming that he would be all for learning it, especially with the knowledge that he would be so skillful in it later.

And so the next few days continued, and they filled them with whatever they felt like it. There were days when Severus felt like taking a walk, and there were days when he chose to secret himself away inside his lab. She didn't see him at all that next Saturday - she thought he would appear at the final Quidditch match, but he did not, and when she checked his lab later, the door was barred.

Severus didn't make an appearance until breakfast on Monday, and he looked… well, rough. Worse than all the times he had stayed up brewing, worse than overworking himself. He looked as close to death as he could get while still standing upright. His skin had a greyish tinge and his hair was more lank than she had ever seen it, and there seemed to be a permanent grimace on his face.

It took everything in Hermione to stop herself from running to him as soon as she saw him, but she knew that would be the absolute worst thing to do. She stared at him all through breakfast, though he didn't turn to look at her once. He ate hardly anything and when he rose to leave, she jumped up to join him in the corridor.

"Merlin, Severus - are you okay?" She asked as she fell into step next to him.

"Fine," he hissed, avoiding her eyes.

"Should we go to your workroom?" She grabbed his arm but he pulled it from her grasp, taking a step away. Her heart sank. He hadn't been that outright rude to her since she had first come here.

"No - no." he responded. "I've changed the wards. We'll meet in yours. But not now - I've things to do. I'll come to you later," and with a turn that reminded her of his older self, he retreated down the steps towards the dungeons.

He never did seek her out that evening. Or the next day. Or the day after that. He returned to normal after a few days, though his aloofness still worried her.

And, to be honest, the time without him gave her a chance to think. When she first made plans to travel back to the past, she had never ever seen herself go down this path. She had never ever imagined that she would allow herself to be with somebody who was living life so dangerously, and she wondered what she signed up for. She would never ever have tolerated anybody who entertained the ideologies that Severus did - or that his friends did, but… was she putting up with it because she knew that man that he was going to become? She knew that he would go on to become a man who hated the very mention of the word mudblood, but he was not that man quite yet.

If she had heard an account of his reasons for becoming a Death Eater before coming here, she would have brushed them off, but having heard from him in his own words… seeing the pain and anger on his face when he was bullied by James Potter and Sirius Black, witnessing his humiliation at the hands of others, not to mention the troubles he faced at home with his parents… she could completely understand why he grasped the hand that was offered to him. She could not say that she would make the same decisions, but she would not judge him for making his.

She was surprised when he turned up to her workroom on Tuesday morning with a box of chocoballs from Honeyduke's. "I'm sorry I've been such an arse - I was working on something that had an unexpected reaction," he finally explained to her. "I didn't want you to inadvertently stumble into something. I've cleaned the room as best I could - which is well when it happened as I needed to begin to pack the room up, anyway."

Hermione nodded and hugged him, though worry still niggled at her. He had told her of previous accidents he had had from his experimentation - one potion had blown up in his face and given him massive boils that weeped green pus that he had to go to the hospital wing for. That was in his second year. He said another had vaporised when he was standing too close to the cauldron and turned his hair bright orange, though he had been able to fix that on his own. What could he have been working on that would have made him look so terrible?

He tapped the top of her head lightly, something he had taken to doing when he could tell she was worrying. "I'm fine," he emphasised.

He still hoped that she would accompany him to view premises for his planned shop - Slughorn had put him in touch with some of his previous students who was an agent and could get him the best deal, apparently. Dumbledore had warily given Hermione his permission to leave the castle as well, but she could sense that he was not happy about it.

They breakfasted early on the Saturday after and walked down to the castle gates to apparate into Diagon Alley. The agent they met Hermione didn't recognize, but he must have been in his mid-twenties and Hermione could guess that he had been a Hufflepuff from his demeanor. He was enthusiastic and when Severus listed what he was looking for, promised him they had something that he would find suitable.

The first premises they looked at were far above what Severus figured his budget would be, but they decided to have a look anyway. It was ideally situated in the middle of Diagon Alley, right between the ice cream parlor and the pet shop. It was spacious and well lit and would get mountains of foot traffic, especially over Christmas and the school shopping season. It had two spacious bedrooms above, and a lovely kitchen decorated in white and yellow tile. It was somewhere Hermione could easily imagine them living if the shop became successful - but it was more of a "someday" place than a "right now" place.

"You'll want to be quick on this one if you want it - we've already had interest from international buyers," warned the estate agent, but Severus shook his head, declining.

They then made their way down the high street to the lesser frequented side of Diagon Alley closest to Knockturn Alley. Hermione hadn't seen a dementor yet, but she could tell that they were near - there was a chill in the air despite the early summer heat, and she felt slightly down.

The shop they were presented with had been vacant for some time from the looks of it. There was a thick layer of dust embedded in the cames of the windows and the only prints in the dust on the floor were in the shape of tiny paws - there were mice.

"This would be better," Severus said, surveying the room. "There's not as much direct light - better for fresher potions ingredients." Though Hermione was not as enthusiastic about the site, Severus obviously was. He gestured where he would put the shop counter and have shelves installed.

"Yes, you don't have the direct light, and you do have the traffic from Knockturn Alley unfortunately -"

"I don't think that's unfortunate," interrupted Severus, fixing the agent with a sharp look. Hermione gave the agent a sympathetic smile.

The agent cleared his throat. "Shall we have a look upstairs?"

The pair of them nodded and they were led into the living quarters. This was much cosier than the last property and only had one bedroom, but it was spacious, and the kitchen was decorated in a moss green that looked as though it had been installed about twenty years earlier.

Some of the cupboards rattled as they were about to leave the kitchen.

"Is the boggart thrown in for free?" asked Severus, giving the agent a pointed look.

The agent went red. "That will be taken care of before you move in, of course."

"No need -" replied Snape, flicking his wand toward the cupboard. "I'll take care of that right now."

The boggart focused on the estate agent as he was still standing in the kitchen, and unfortunately the man was not prepared at all. At the sight of a large hairy spider climbing out of the cupboard, the man squeaked in fear and dropped his clipboard and wand. Snape rolled his eyes and flicked his wand at the boggart. "Riddikulus," he said lazily, and the spider was immediately clothed in a party hat with streamers tied around its legs, bright circles painted on what would be its cheeks and ridiculously long lashes attached to its eight eyes.

The boggart focused on Severus and Hermione held her breath with anticipation of what form it would take. Would it be a werewolf? Severus had been seriously upset at that encounter - or would it become Sirius and James? He had always been so tense around them - what was young Severus Snape most afraid of? With a pop, the boggart suddenly became a man slightly taller than Snape who bore his same hair and nose.

He could only be Tobias Snape - Hermione clenched her wand as the boggart spotted Snape and drew itself up to its full height and let out a drunken shout. "What do you think you're doing, boy? What did I tell you about waving that stick around? Of course that bitch would be involved - she'll pay for this later just as much as you will now -"

Snape's face had grown pale at the sight of his father, but he pointed his wand at the sight and confidently said "Riddikulus." Tobias had suddenly shrunk down into a toddler, barefoot and in a nappy that was fit to burst. Snape let out an amused laugh. "Turnabout's fair play." Tears streamed down the toddler's face and Hermione's heart stopped as it turned its attention on her.

She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the sight of Professor McGonagall telling her that she had failed everything, preparing to frustrate the boggart by causing all the marks on the papers it presented her with disappear, but she was not prepared for the sight of the child's head to elongate and grow scaly and green, and it's torso to stretch out until it formed into a massive snake. It rose and began to hiss at her, baring its large fangs.

"Ridd -" she whispered, gasping at the unexpected sight. "Riddikulus." But it didn't work - Hermione couldn't think of anything to turn the boggart into something amusing. She kept thinking of the snake writhing within its magical protective cage.

Snape stepped forward. "Riddikulus," he said, and the snake turned into a balloon animal that was rapidly twisting and turning until it tied itself into a bow, and with another pop, it was gone.

The estate agent was making notes on his clipboard, a bead of sweat trickled down from his sideburns. "Let's move on, shall we?"

The rest of the morning was rather unexciting and the last place he showed them was entirely unsuitable - there was just enough space for maybe a counter, but no room to really display anything available for sale. "What did this used to be?" Hermione asked, only just starting to recover from the boggart encounter. She could still feel a slight trembling in her limbs, and she was having a difficult time looking at Severus. Thankfully, he seemed too engrossed in the search to notice.

The estate agent shrugged. "No idea. Maybe a owl order service? Or maybe its never been a commercial site at all. Let's look in the living area." As they made their way upstairs it became clear from the corridor with lots of doors that it used to be a bawdyhouse. The estate agent blushed and Severus shook his head immediately. "I think not," he said.

After leaving the estate agent, they had a quick lunch at the Leaky Cauldron before they apparated back up to Hogsmeade. Hermione was thankful they ate inside despite the nice weather - at least two dementors had passed while they dined inside the pub and despite the wall between them, Hermione could still sense their presence. Severus brought up the boggart in passing, but she quickly steered their conversation in another direction.

"You know, there are other places you can go - other wizarding villages. They're not going to be as busy, of course, but you could still run a pretty decent mail order service -" She thought of Fred and George running their own business from their room in Ottery St. Catchpole.

"No - I want what I set out to do, and this is what I've been saving for. I'll find somewhere."

The properties they looked at in Hogsmeade were not much different - there was one near the Hog's Head that Severus liked the look of downstairs, but it needed extensive repairs to the living area - there were pigeons nesting in the rafters.

"Well - I think that's it, but I will let you know if any properties become available within the next few weeks - we are currently in the talks with someone who is moving off the high street, and can certainly keep you informed of that," the estate agent replied. She was middle aged and much more professional than the one they had met with first, and at their earlier mention of Slughorn, the woman blushed slightly.

"Please do," confirmed Severus.

"Do you have any residential properties available?" asked Hermione. She felt stupid for not asking earlier. Here they were looking for places to Severus - and she needed somewhere to stay as well.

The agent thought for a moment, twisting her hair around one of her fingers. "We do have one at the end of the high street - it's above Zonko's. Would you like to have a look?"

Hermione nodded. The agent fished in her handbag before pulling out a ring of keys that seemed endless. She flipped through them until she found one marked with a large Z.

They walked to the end of the high street where Zonko's was, carefully avoiding the sparks that flew out from the shop window, and climbed the two flights of stairs leading above the shop. "The rent on this is very reasonable, if I do say. The proprietors are only using the first floor, and have been trying to let the second floor, but no one seems very keen on the amount of noise coming from downstairs," she explained. Hermione could understand. There was almost constant whizzing and pops coming from the shop below - no doubt from wet-start fireworks.

When they entered, the flat appeared a bit cozy but Hermione liked the look of it - she could see Hogwarts clearly from the window in the kitchen, and there was a second bedroom that… well, it was more of a large closet, really, but it would be a nice potions workspace. There was plenty of room for the mice and the maze as well. She looked at Severus who was surveying the ceilings - there were no signs of pigeons here. "What do you think?" she asked.

"No boggarts. No space for ghouls," he remarked. "I think it's nice."

"How much was it again?" she asked.

The estate agent listed a price that was a few more galleons than she had in mind to pay. "But I'm sure the owners will knock a bit off - it has been empty for a while."

Hermione did some mental calculations. She could afford two - maybe three months rent. And who knows after that…

"Shall we go back to your office?" Hermione asked.

The estate agent seemed almost surprised. "You're sure? Even with the racket from downstairs?"

"Nothing a few charms won't fix." She grabbed Severus' hand and squeezed it. "Do you mind?"

He shook his head. "I'm glad one of us has had some luck today."

Hermione spent the afternoon looking over tenancy agreements with Severus throwing in a few negotiations with her that were gladly accepted. Later as they walked back up to the castle, Severus seemed genuinely excited for her. "I think we could probably sneak out the settee if you want it," he said. "I mean - no one at Hogwarts was using it…"

Hermione giggled at his suggestion. "You're quite attached to it."

"Some of the best moments of my life took place on that couch," he explained with a smirk. "Why wouldn't I want to bring it with me?"

Hermione slipped her arm through his and leaned her head against him. "I'm glad I have you."

"Jean - that snake -" She was wondering if he would bring it up again - it had just been as unexpected for her as it must have been for him.

"I can't talk about it, Severus -" she replied quickly. She really didn't - she didn't want to risk Dumbledore's wand lighting up or trying to find a way to answer his questions without directly answering them. And she had told him what happened already - it was one of the first conversations they ever had.

He nodded and they finished their trip back to the castle in silence.

July brought the end of exams for the rest of the school and it was suddenly nearly time for the leaving feast. There were only a few days left for students to recover any lost items and say their goodbyes and to try to earn points to win the house cup. Ravenclaw was in the lead, and Hermione suspected that this was strongly due to the amount of shenanigans the Marauders had gotten up to over the year and the amount of Slytherins who retaliated.

Dumbledore had written to her one morning at breakfast requesting a meeting with her and though she couldn't quite put her finger on why, she was oddly dreading it. Ever since Severus had pointed out they were being watched, she kept finding ways of avoiding him. When she reached the headmaster's office that evening, he did not greet her with nearly as much enthusiasm as he normally did and Hermione took her seat in silence.

He leaned onto his desk and fixed her with a serious gaze before addressing her."Miss Granger - I do hope you understand my alarm at the fact that you are still here. I hope that you understand the world you return to may not be the one you recognize as I believe you have made an irreparable impression on some of your classmates."

Hermione nodded, feeling tears welling in her eyes. She breathed in deeply to try to stop them, but the image of Dumbledore before her blurred.

"What is it that is keeping you here?" he asked.

It took her a moment to search for her answer and when she found it, she couldn't quite meet his eyes. "Fear."

"Well, if I recall what you told me correctly, you shouldn't have much to fear in your time period."

Hermione took a deep breath before she explained further. "Fear of failure. I'm terrified. I haven't quite perfected the memory repairing potion. I'm not afraid to find out exactly what I've changed, and I'm afraid of returning to a life where I do not know what to do with myself."

"You have completed your NEWTS. I can assure you your marks will be added to your future record, and I will personally write you a letter of recommendation."

"But it's not just that, Professor -"

"How close are you to accomplishing your task, Miss Granger? The one I sent you here for?"

"I think… I think it's done. It's just, I have some perfecting to do, and -" Yes - if Severus ever saw Nagini again, he would surely put it together with her boggart and what she said -

"Then I believe that your time here is close to being finished and you should consider departing as soon as you can before much else has changed. I cannot promise you as much safety outside these walls as I can within them, and I need to consider my organization and the safety of all within it - even those from the future," Dumbledore finished firmly, his eyes no longer holding as much warmth for her as she was used to.

Hermione buried her head in her hands, unable to stop the flow of tears. Being told off by Dumbledore - it felt terrible.

He let her cry freely for a few moments before speaking to her once more. "Are you not a Gryffindor?"

She nodded.

"Then what is stopping you, Miss Granger?"

"I'm afraid of not having succeeded. I'm afraid that this time - all this time - would have been for nothing," she choked out. "I'm afraid to go back to a world where he may not exist."

"If you truly believe that you have not made an impact on those here, you are wrong. It would not have been for nothing. Your presence has brought an infinite amount of enjoyment to the lives of those around you. Your professors have found you to be a delight to have in their classes, you help those around you succeed, and I believe you have helped put a pair - if not a quartet - of Gryffindors in their place over the past year. And that does not begin to touch on the impact you have made on young Mister Snape." She felt him next to her, his hand on her shoulder. "I have intelligence that an aggressive recruit campaign will be beginning soon, and there is no point your coming here only to have something happen. I have hinted at it before, but I have received some enquiries as to your presence here and have done my best to redirect them, but I fear that once you leave these walls, I will no longer have influence to do so."

She calmed herself, wiping her eyes on her sleeves, then accepting the handkerchief that Dumbledore held in front of her.

"I do not encourage you to leave because I tire of your company - I ask for your safety and that of those around you."

She nodded. "I will give myself some time to say goodbye, and then I will go. It may not be as quick as you would like, but I will be gone before the next term starts. I've taken lease of a place in Hogsmeade - above Zonko's, just temporarily. You can reach me there if anything happens in the meantime."

He gave her a firm nod. "Please send word if you can. But as I will be gone on business soon, I believe this may be goodbye for us - or until next time."

"Until next time," she agreed.

She left the headmaster's office, deep in thought of how to wrap up her business and how much more research and testing she could get done before September. She was embarrassed by her breakdown in front of Dumbledore, but she really couldn't help it. She had felt it coming - there was a tension that grew every time they met, and after everything Severus had said, it had finally come to a head. She could no longer justify her presence, especially as she had now done her NEWTS and the base of the memory potion had been completed.

She was frustrated as well. Disappointed in herself. She had never meant to stay this long. She wanted to go back, but she wanted some assurance that she would succeed. She wanted to know for sure that she would be able to fix her parents, Snape would be able to go live his life in peace, and she would be able to move on with her own.

As it was high summer, there was still weak light filtering through the windows on the seventh floor. It was a short distance to Gryffindor Tower. However, even with the weak light, she still jumped at an arm reaching out to grab her and pull her into an alcove.

Her heart began racing and kept up its rapid beat after Severus' eyes met hers. The smirk he wore quickly faded when he saw her.

"You've been crying," he said, concerned. "What's happened?"

She shook her head, afraid that if she said anything she would burst into tears again.

He pulled her to him and rested his head against hers so his mouth was just above her ear. "Anything I can do?"

She shook her head again, clinging to him, wondering how many more times he would hold her like this before she would be gone.

"Can we go to the lab?" she whispered.

He nodded, leading them down a side passage that released them onto the third floor. He pushed a tapestry aside, led her down another passage, and placed his wand against the door. It clicked open to reveal his line of cauldrons on one side, and their improvised living space on the other, though all the homely little touches they had made over the past few months were gone. The cauldrons had been recently cleaned, and there were crates where potions ingredients used to line the wall.

They sat on the sofa together and she leaned into him. His arm wrapped tightly around her shoulder.

"I have to admit, my plans for you this evening involved snogging you senseless, but this is nice, too," he said.

She laughed, burying her face into his neck and planting a few soft kisses there.

"I think I might be fine with that," she replied.

"But will you tell me what upset you? Do I need to hex someone?"

She shook her head at his offer. "I will tell you. Just not right now."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes."

"I'm holding you to that." He lowered his lips to her ear where he knew she was ticklish and caused her to break out into indignant giggles. It was well past curfew when Hermione retreated to Gryffindor Tower.